Couples Retreat, writeup to follow

This week broke a few very interesting stories.  First we have Apple taking the fight against all things titillating and taking the now familiar step of banishing apps from the iTunes store aka super Jobs nirvana land.  Seems that someone had the nerve to make apps that had cleavage and bare chested men and such…who would have thought.  Good news is that Apple has got the mothership servers on full alert and are wiping out vast swaths of applications.  The bad news is, as usual, no one is exactly sure whats ok and what isn’t.  But come on, when your app can be rejected because its icon doesn’t meet the “aesthetic standards” of Apple, what do you expect?

.

((our sponsor))
GotoMeeting Hold your meetings online for just $49/mo. Try GoToMeeting FREE for 30 days.

.

But our main stories this week have nothing to do with Apple, no this week I take a peep at just what those school administrators in Pennsylvania call loss mitigation.  More specifically, why someone or more likely (if not unbelievably) several someones though it was ok to turn on the web cameras of laptops given to children without then knowing about it, while it was in child’s home, or more specifically bedroom.  Now so far its not as bad as that sounds, but its not much better.  The level of DUH this one required is hard to comprehend

Also a story this week about all the new 3d Televisions.  Apparently its not all a good thing, as some researchers believe that watching too much 3d may make a documented issue with watching 3d images on a screen called Binocular Dysphoria, permanent or at least last long enough to be a real issue.  I don’t know what you consider a real issue, but since a few million of these people are going to be driving within minutes of watching 3d stuff, I’d say its just a little more important.

Call the voicemail hotline (347)Bug-Mike    (347)284-6453

–Mike James

Let’s start by saying it was Jeanne’s turn to pick the movie…so there will be no car chases or bombs exploding this week.  Instead we decided to celebrate the holiday many love to hate…and see “Valentine’s Day”.  The movie follows the interwoven lives of several couples as they experience the day of love. Some of the couples are in the brand new shiny penny version of love, others are trying to figure out where they stand, some are facing hard times, others reconnecting. And the cast of this movie is A M A Z I N G.  The main character Reed Bennett (played by Ashton Kutcher) is followed through most of the movie, all the other characters are connected through him, either directly or through friends of a direct link.  It’s like six degrees of separation to Reed.  Anyway, there are some serious names in this movie, including: Jennifer Garner, Jamie Foxx, Anne Hathaway, Kathy Bates, Shirley MacLaine, Julie Roberts, Patrick Dempsey, Topher Grace, Jessica Alba, Bradley Cooper, Eric Dane, Jessica Biel, Queen Latifah and Hector Elizondo (who has apparently been 12 films by director Marshall) …whew my fingers are tired and that is just the surface…there are many more. The movie is directed by Garry Marshall, who brought us such favorites as Pretty Woman, A League of Their Own, The Princess Diaries and Beaches.  He had such talent to work with this movie must have been a blast to make.

Join us as we take a look at how small the world really is…and don’t forget to call the new voicemail hotline: 240-MOVIEBIT and tell us what you think, or recommend a movie…or enter the giveaway “Jeanne and Mike’s Movie Bits”.

And the winner is…Meryl Streep for the role of Julia Child in Julie and Julia (2009). So we decided to review the movie, cause we have seen almost all the other films nominated for the Golden Globes. Julie and Julie is based on the true stories of two woman, Julia Child, whom we know from her Cooking show, but this storyline follows her path to becoming the cookie legend. And the second person, Julie Powell (Amy Adams) who blogs her way through Child’s cookbook for a year. The story is interwoven between the two women’s lives. Brought to us by Nora Ephron, who directed and wrote the screenplay. She is known for her works on romantic comedies, including Sleepless in Seattle (1993) , You’ve Got Mail (1998) and When Harry Met Sally (1989). This is not the first time Streep and Ephron have collaborated on a project, they worked together in Heartburn (1986) for which Ephron wrote the book and screenplay. Join us as we review the film and don’t forget to call us with your “Movie Bits” responses.

This week we review the much anticipated James Cameron film… Aliens…I mean Terminator…no no that’s not right..it was Titanic. Actually, hard to believe, but Titanic was the last Big movie directed by Cameron.  Do I have your attention now?  I meant Avatar of course!!!  Written and directed by James Cameron, with a MONSTER budget of sources say anywhere from 280 million, plus marketing (Los Angles Times) to almost 500 million (The New York Times), but we will not know the real figures for months.  Regardless to say this is one of the highest costing films of our time.  With the director putting in some major capital to develop the technology that would make his dream of Avatar into a reality.  And 161 minute timestamp, they really wanted to get their monies worth.

The movie follows our paraplegic Marine into the world of Pandora.  Where the locals are 10 feet tall and BLUE called the Na’vi.  This environment is hostile to humans but rich in unobtanium (Mike prefers to call it Plot-tonium since it moves the plot along), yeah I know, hard to believe they named it that.  The goal is to get to this rock which is worth Billions and the way there is BY FORCE or Peaceful relocation.  This is where our Marine, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) comes in, with the help of Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) and Norm Spellmen (Joel Moore) they intergrate their minds with the human/Na’vi hybrid avatars.  This is a story on so many levels, listen as we tell our thoughts and take you to into the vivid imagination of James Cameron.

This week we review “Angels and Demons” the second installment in The Da Vinci Code from author Dan Howard.  Director Ron Howard (who also directed the first movie) takes us on a journey through Rome and Vatican City. The movie takes us to actual locations such as Piazza del Popolo, The Pantheon and the Royal Palace in Campania.  These ancient locations played a key role in the movement of the film.

We join Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) sometime after the end of the first book/movie.  As you may have deduced from the title this movie has more significant religious overtones.  We follow Langdon as he tracks down the “Illuminati” threat to Vatican City.

Please join us as we give you our thoughts on the movie.  And don’t forget to call in to 347-BUG-MIKE with your responses to Jeanne and Mike’s Movie Bits and your favorite holiday movies.

This week we review “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” starring Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner. The movie follows McConaughey character Conner Mead along a “A Christmas Carol” type journey as he visits his past, present and future partners. Helping him along his journey was Uncle Wayne, played by Michael Douglas. Who brought an imperfect character to life and brought about many chuckles along the way. And to make everything more fun, the movie is set on the weekend of Conner’s brothers wedding.

Join Mike and Jeanne as they take a look at the movie.

And don’t forget to call the voice mail hotline 347-BUG-MIKE to enter
the “Jeanne and Mike’s MovieBits giveaway” or to let us know what you
think.

Also this month, call to let us know your favorite holiday movie. Some people prefer the old classics like It’s a Wonderful Life, while others prefer more modern interpretations of the holiday season and Christmas with movies like Planes Trains and Automobiles, lets hear from you and your favorites.

Planet 51

This week we decided to watch the kid friendly release of “Planet 51″.  The animated feature brought to the screen by Ilion Animation.  Written by Joe Stillman, who is also known for Shrek and Shrek 2.  The movie takes a unique view on first contact and is situated it the ’50s version of the planet.  The voice acting includes Dwayne ‘The Rock” Johnson as Captain Charles “Chuck” Baker our intrepid austronaut, Justin Long as Lem, the teeenager trying to find himself and stumbles upon “the alien”, Jessica Beal as Neera, the love interest of Lem and Gary Oldman as General Grawl, the over the top by the book Miltary presence.

Listen now for our thoughts on the movie, and as always you can call us at the voicemail hotline, 347-BUG-MIKE.

This week we take a look at a new twist on a classic tale, “A Christmas Carol”, written by Charles Dickens.  The movie is animated by using motion capture technology, which has seen some increase in recent years beginning with The Polar Express in 2004 and most recently, Beowulf in 2007.  These movies are also easily adapted to 3D, which A Christmas Carol has also been released in this format as well.

The voice acting includes the talented of Jim Carrey, playing the following characters: Scrooge / Ghost of Christmas Past / Scrooge as a Young Boy / Scrooge as a Teenage Boy / Scrooge as a Young Man / Scrooge as a Middle-Aged Man / Ghost of Christmas Present / Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, as you can see he is quite busy in the movie.  I must say my favorite was the Christmas Present.

Also in the cast are Colin Firth, playing Scrooge’s nephew Fred and Gary Oldman playing the characters: Bob Cratchit / Marley / Tiny Tim.

And don’t forget to enter the Jeanne and Mike Movie Bits giveaway, as always you can reach us at 347-BUG-MIKE or Letswatchmovies@gmail.com

Yes you have missed us, we haven’t done a new show in a few weeks…and for that Mike apologizes, he really had no excuse.  Jeanne, however has been sick with pneumonia…so she has a really good reason for no podcast.

Anyways, thanks for coming back and rejoining us as we review The Proposal, a romantic comedy starring Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock.  Remember the best way out of deportation is bribing your assistant to marry you….

And lets not forget Betty White as Grandma, a definite scene stealer.